


Locked Out, Alicia Zimmermann has a talk with Eric

by JustLookFrightenedAndScuttle



Series: Locked Out [9]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M, Meeting the Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 13:33:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17346137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustLookFrightenedAndScuttle/pseuds/JustLookFrightenedAndScuttle
Summary: Based around Alicia's talk with Eric inChapter 11of Locked Out





	Locked Out, Alicia Zimmermann has a talk with Eric

**Author's Note:**

> _Based around Alicia's talk with Eric in[Chapter 11](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15807630/chapters/40135157#workskin) of Locked Out_

Alicia stood at the boards, watching Eric spin and leap and dance. He seemed an entirely different creature from the boy who dressed in hockey pads and played with Jack and Bob. He might have been nearly a head shorter than both of them, but he clearly had no trouble keeping up.

Now that speed was on full display as he circled the ice backwards and launched himself into the air, spinning before landing on one narrow steel blade.

He might look like a sprite, a tiny elfin creature, flighty and capricious, but he had a spine and a spirit every bit as steely as his blades.

Alicia hadn’t been sure what to make of it when Jack started mentioning Eric, first during phone calls and then during his July visit. He was clearly smitten, in a way Alicia had never seen before. It wasn’t like with Kent, when Alicia began to suspect that he was more than a teammate and friend to Jack.

Then, it was Jack’s embarrassment more than anything that tipped her off. Well, that and his secretiveness. Once he talked about Kent at least as much as his other teammates; the last few months before the draft he would clam up or even leave the room if Kent’s name came up.

But Jack wasn’t reluctant to talk about Eric at all, from the first anecdote about stopping to help him get his car unlocked -- “He brought pie to thank me, and did you know he plays hockey?” -- to sharing Eric’s travails coping with checking and finding a place to live in Providence.

She was half afraid that Jack would invite this virtual stranger to move in.

He didn’t, but it seemed as though Eric was spending nearly all his free moments with Jack, or in Jack’s home.

“It’s only that he doesn’t have a kitchen where he can bake,” Jack said. “He has a vlog where he teaches people how to make things.”

So it was no surprise when Jack said they were dating. Alicia and Bob agreed they were grateful that Jack had signed all those years ago with the Falconers; Georgia Martin had become a good friend and would help him navigate the team situation.

Which meant all Alicia had to worry about was Jack’s heart.

Then when Jack visited and they went to Nova Scotia, it seemed like he found a way to turn almost every conversation to Eric. Anything about food? Eric made something like it, or could make something like it, or made it better. Anything about hockey? Jack never skated with a faster player, and he was getting so much better with physicality.

But what touched her most was the way he related Eric’s situation -- being in the closet in Georgia, with parents he wasn’t entirely sure would be supportive -- to what they had gone through together after the overdose.

“You and Papa were always there, always ready to listen -- even when I didn’t want to talk,” Jack said. “I know I took your support for granted. Eric doesn’t have that. I can’t imagine what it would be like to doubt that your own family would love you if they really knew you.”

Bob was thrilled. Alicia could see it on his face. If Jack got gooey eyes when he talked about Eric, Bob got gooey eyes watching Jack be in love.

Bob developed a sudden interest in baking, and asked Jack how to find Eric’s vlog. He was a little surprised Jack didn’t know already, but when Jack explained that Eric tried to keep his online and in-person lives separate, Bob accepted it with good grace.

Alicia wanted to be just as delighted as Bob. She was happy for Jack, no doubt about that. But she thought it might be … unwise to throw his heart at this boy he’d only known for a few weeks. He still suffered from anxiety, and he had gotten to the point that he nearly died once. She never wanted something like that to happen again.

She wished he would protect himself, just a little. She was pretty sure Eric knew how to protect himself, if the way he guarded access to his vlog was any clue. (Of course, he could be a cam boy or something like that, and Jack would have no clue, a suspicious voice said in her head.)

She wanted Jack to go slow. Take time to get to know this Eric fellow. If it was meant to be, it would still be meant to be in a few more weeks or months.

Then Jack was leaving a day early, headed to Atlanta, without so much as giving Eric a heads-up, as far as she knew.

“It’s romantic,” Bob said.

“Maybe,” Alicia said. “But don’t you think it might seem a little pushy?”

“I trust Jack’s judgment,” Bob said. 

Jack reported that Eric’s coming out didn’t go as badly as it might have -- which left a lot of ways in which it might have gone better. The summer continued, with Eric still a fixture in Jack’s conversation, and Bob and Alicia continued to press Jack to invite him to Montreal.

Despite all she had heard, and the pictures Jack had shown her, Alicia wasn’t quite sure what to expect when Eric arrived.

Her first impressions were of a young man -- barely more than a boy -- who was well-mannered and wide-eyed. He didn’t seem overly impressed to meet her, or too excited about meeting Bob. Mostly he just seemed very young. It made Alicia want to mother him, but didn’t convince her that he was ready to be a serious partner for Jack.

He didn’t open up until he smelled Bob’s burnt cookies. Then it was like someone flipped a switch, and he took charge, ordering his boyfriend’s Hall-of-Famer father around the kitchen while he explained ingredients and techniques and produced heaps of cookies.

He was a near-perfect houseguest. He was quiet when the house was quiet, he was almost too eager to help cook and he cleaned up after himself.

It was clear from the way he looked at Jack that he thought Jack hung the moon. But how long would that last? She loved Jack more than life itself, but he could be a huge grump, especially if the season wasn’t going well. 

He spent most of his time with Jack, of course, or Jack and Bob, who came back from their first trip to the rink going on almost more than Jack about watching Eric figure skate.

Later that evening, when they were out, Alicia had the chance to ask Bob what he really thought.

“Jack’s right,” Bob said. “He’s really quick, and he has great hands. Seems like he sees the ice well too.”

“I wasn’t asking about his hockey,” Alicia said.

“Well, to be able to go from that to the spinning and the jumping -- I always knew those skaters had to be strong, but I don’t think I ever appreciated how strong until I was standing right by the boards,” Bob said.

“Bob,” Alicia said. “Be serious.”

“I am,” Bob said. “Who said I was only talking about physical strength? He’s a boy who grew up figure skating in a small town in Georgia, switched to rec league hockey for three years and made a NCAA team. He went home and told his parents he’s gay without knowing whether they’d even support him through his last year of college. And he’s not sad and bitter. He’s not saying, ‘Poor me.’”

“I agree he’s a great kid,” Alicia said. “If he was just a friend of Jack’s, I’d be ready to adopt him if necessary. But he’s so young.”

“He’s young,” Bob said, “but that doesn’t mean he’s immature. He’s a force to be reckoned with, and quite frankly, Jack needs that.”

“He does need someone he can relate to as an equal,” Alicia said.

“You think he doesn’t see Eric as an equal?” 

“I think he does,” Alicia said. “I’m not sure Eric sees himself that way.”

The next day, she joined the boys for their trip to the rink. She watched Eric hold his own in the odd, lopsided game of shinny they played. Then when he came off to change, she followed him to the locker room.

It wasn’t until they got there that she realized how awkward that was. She’d only been intent on getting him alone. But he just grinned and said not to worry about it; he’d grown up in locker rooms. Then he proceeded to tell her -- in much nicer words -- that he and Jack were adults and she should let them make their own decisions.

She walked out of the locker room feeling better than she had in weeks.


End file.
